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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 08/18/2010 : 03:12:18
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The Mindset List. 
Most US students think Beethoven is a dog
Published: Tuesday August 17, 2010
Most young Americans entering university this year can't write in cursive, think email is too slow, that Beethoven's a dog and Michelangelo a computer virus, according to an annual list compiled by two academics at a US college.
To students who will get their bachelor's degrees in 2014, Czechoslovakia has never existed, Fergie is a pop singer, not a duchess; Clint Eastwood is a sensitive movie director, not Dirty Harry; and John McEnroe stars in TV ads, not on the tennis court, Beloit College's "Mindset" list says.
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This is a little depressing. Everybody knows that Beethoven was a physician who treated the deaf and wrote prophetic quatrains, and a "Czechoslovakia" is a big, sloppy sandwich served in a famous, NYC deli. What the hell are they teaching kids these days?
I blame it on the Internets. Too much information delivered too fast, by chronic liars, is even worse than information delivered too slowly or not at all. And some of these malinformed kids will, in their turn, be teaching other kids. Civilization as we know it is truly doomed.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2010 : 04:09:20 [Permalink]
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Eh Filthy, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. I've seen these same types of studies come out every year at this time since I was young.
I recall when I was young and reading articles saying that Generation X (my generation) would never make anything of themselves because we just sat around playing Nintendo and listening to heavy metal. Recently I read an article referring to the " workaholic generation Xrs" pushing the limits and working too much.
The more things change the more they stay the same. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 08/18/2010 : 04:41:00 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Eh Filthy, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. I've seen these same types of studies come out every year at this time since I was young.
I recall when I was young and reading articles saying that Generation X (my generation) would never make anything of themselves because we just sat around playing Nintendo and listening to heavy metal. Recently I read an article referring to the " workaholic generation Xrs" pushing the limits and working too much.
The more things change the more they stay the same. |
My point exactly; we've had the radish. The simple fact that these things show up year after year, each more ridiculous than the last, supports that.
I didn't put this in Humor where it arguably belongs, 'cause it ain't all that funny.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2010 : 18:25:06 [Permalink]
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Cursive/script handwriting is a useless skill, except maybe for asthetic value. I'm not sorry to see it go away.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2010 : 21:16:40 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
...and a "Czechoslovakia" is a big, sloppy sandwich served in a famous, NYC deli. |
In Canada we know better, we always think of it as 'that pesky little group of bastards who play hockey damned well and always give us trouble'. |
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 10:36:36 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by The Rat
Originally posted by filthy
...and a "Czechoslovakia" is a big, sloppy sandwich served in a famous, NYC deli. |
In Canada we know better, we always think of it as 'that pesky little group of bastards who play hockey damned well and always give us trouble'.
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Oh! the ol' TPLGOBWPHDWAAGUT method. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 10:54:22 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dude
Cursive/script handwriting is a useless skill, except maybe for asthetic value. I'm not sorry to see it go away.
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I am going to have to disagree on this one. Cursive is less strenuous on the wrist than printing. It makes writing quicker and easier. I am proud to say that I have excellent penmanship. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2010 : 11:06:36 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Originally posted by Dude
Cursive/script handwriting is a useless skill, except maybe for asthetic value. I'm not sorry to see it go away.
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I am going to have to disagree on this one. Cursive is less strenuous on the wrist than printing. It makes writing quicker and easier. I am proud to say that I have excellent penmanship.
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The huge majority of people can't write legibly in script, making it a detriment to communication. Print legibly or type.
I'm also biased against it because I have never had good penmanship, it was very difficult for me to do and resulted in some unfair evaluations on report cards in gradeschool! That doesn't really impact the argument that print or type is superior for communicating though.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Machi4velli
SFN Regular
USA
854 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2010 : 19:34:55 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Originally posted by Dude
Cursive/script handwriting is a useless skill, except maybe for asthetic value. I'm not sorry to see it go away. |
I am going to have to disagree on this one. Cursive is less strenuous on the wrist than printing. It makes writing quicker and easier. I am proud to say that I have excellent penmanship.
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Don't know, it was never much faster for me. I can't see that it would be particularly useful for me. If I write anything very long, I type, so the strenuousness on the wrist is moot. What I do usually actually write is mostly math, which is mostly symbols anyway, or short notes. I'd like to have the hours I spent learning it back. (Maybe I could exchange it for full knowledge of keyboard shortcuts in Word!) |
"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."
-Giordano Bruno
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge."
-Stephen Hawking
"Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable"
-Albert Camus |
| Edited by - Machi4velli on 08/20/2010 19:37:46 |
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Say what?!
